But there’s been something nagging at us ever since we published that review: We heated it up in the microwave. Perhaps if we’d baked it in the oven, it wouldn’t have been so runny. Maybe baking would have activated the sauce’s flavor a little better.

So we tried again. After all, we’ve been enormous fans of Evol’s line of frozen foods. We decided we owe them the benefit of the doubt this time.

How did it go?

Well, our first impression wasn’t bad. This meal looks and smells great from the second you pull it out of the oven.

For comparison, this one was cooked in the microwave:

And this one was baked in the oven:

As you can see, the microwaved version has a nice, melty layer over the top, while the oven version has a sort of cheesy crisp over the top. It’s a matter of preference, we suppose, but we found the first to be a little more visually appealing.

But, as we mentioned before, our review serving mainly failed on two important fronts: taste and consistency. And we wouldn’t be able to comment on that without doing the dirty work and digging in.

The consistency of the oven-baked version was a vast improvement. While the edges of the pasta got a bit too crisped, the portion in the middle was perfect.

For comparison, when we finished the microwave version, we were left with a tray filled with a soupy mess:

But when we finished the oven version, we were left with this:

The oven version left behind what we would expect from a decent lasagna. There’s very little pooling liquid, and the sauce sticks to the edges and corners instead of migrating to the bottom of the tray.

Even so, we weren’t completely sold by the garlic and red wine tomato sauce. It’s just not rich enough in flavor for our particular taste.

That said, if you’re going to pick up Evol’s Lasagna & Meat Sauce, we definitely recommend heating it up using the oven method. It takes longer, but you’ll get a much better meal.

For full ingredients and nutritional information, check out our package scan below.